Review – In Harmony by Emma Scott

”If we are true to ourselves, we can not be false to anyone.”― William Shakespeare, Hamlet

It’s hard when reading to realize the impact of mere words. Words that have the power to both break you and put you together again. I don’t know if I can truly put into words the impact felt when I read the beauty that Emma Scott brings to life. IN HARMONY is one of those books where you feel every word; you FEEL EVERYTHING through your pounding heart to the depths of your shaking soul. Words that reach in and grab your heart, holding it tightly. Words that steal your soul, stomping on it with each breath. I’m breathless, bare, broken, and bleeding from this book, In Harmony, which in mere minutes became my MEANING … MY ALL … MY EVERYTHING.

There’s something special about a young adult (YA) romance, one that gives a voice to teens who often struggle with words as they navigate the bridge to adulthood while wading in treacherous waters. Being a teenager is difficult, trying at times for all, especially when no one really listens. YA allows young men and women’s voices to be prominent. YA brings their sometimes heartbreaking stories to life, ones we finally hear, ones they can finally tell, ones we can finally tell too.

”I’m trying to…find myself in the dark.”

Emma Scott flawlessly and fearlessly—through her heartfelt and honest words—tells the heartbreaking but strong stories that many victims find hard to relay. This incredibly talented author and GIFTED STORYTELLER portrays the struggles so many victims face, uncovering abuse that some endure, while shedding light on tough topics often stuck in the dark. Emma has given one genuine and gut-wrenching but gorgeous voice to a teen hero and heroine, who, together, find light in the dark. Told through Shakespeare’s masterful Hamlet in the era of #metoo, In Harmony is a deeply moving and brutally honest story of survival after shattering, of life after feeling dead inside. If you’ve ever been a victim of abuse or assault, this book speaks directly to you.

”You have a flame too, don’t you?” I silently asked him.

“You guard it with your life. Mine gets blown around in the slightest breeze.”

Willow and Isaac are both beautiful from inside out. These two teens are lost souls until their souls find each other. Perhaps this union was of fate, meant be like a rainbow and rain, and sun after a storm, shedding light to their dark worlds.

Dark sees dark.

He looked at me like he could see me.

Like sees like.

I recognized the heaviness in her eyes because I had it too. Loss and pain pressed down on her.

This hero and heroines’ chemistry is UNDENIABLE. I MELTED from the MAGIC of Isaac and Willow, their slow burn burned me. I felt their SPARK. I felt their SOUL stamp all over me. Together, this hero and heroine were the sun amid the storm, and I felt their dark and light penetrate me.

”Us dead people, we rest in graveyards.”

“You’re not dead, Willow.”

“Not all of me,” she said.

This line WRECKED me where I wept for Willow!

A HARROWING and HEART-WRENCHING love story told through the eyes of Hamlet and threaded with #metoo, In Harmony is a story that buried itself deep inside me and will never leave.In Harmony shines and shatters like shards of glass. This book will break you and put you back together again—piece by broken piece—in the most beautiful of ways. I BROKE SO HARD for the broken hero and heroine! This tragically touching tale took me back to my own #metoo moment at age 16, one that I kept buried until I was an adult. I broke for them. I broke for victims. I broke for me.

I burn. I pine. I perish.

This HEARTBREAKINGLY BEAUTIFUL book touched every part of me in one EXTRAORDINARY EMOTIONAL JOURNEY.In Harmony is so RAW and REAL. Emma Scott’s realistic-like words pulled me in—tugging me under—as I sank into an emotional abyss where every sensation sparked to life. In Harmony bled into every part of me where its words were all I could see and be. This story SHOOK ME TO THE CORE! In Harmony is a journey that I’ll FEEL FOREVER, one engraved on my heart and tattooed to my soul.

”I’ve been waiting for you my whole life.”

In Harmony is worth all the first and last kisses! I can’t rate this soul-shattering story high enough!!! It’s a TOP 2018 read and a LIFETIME because it’s the kind of journey in words that will touch you for a lifetime.

”Doubt thou the stars are fire;Doubt that the sun doth move;Doubt truth to be a liar;But never doubt I love.”― William Shakespeare, Hamlet

At seventeen, Willow Holloway’s life was torn apart. The happy, driven girl is gone, and she is left wracked by post-traumatic stress her body remembers even if she does not. When her father suddenly uproots the family from their posh penthouse in New York City to the tiny town of Harmony, Indiana, Willow becomes more untethered and lost under the weight of her secret. On a whim, she auditions for a part in the community theater’s production of Hamlet and unexpectedly wins the role of Ophelia—the girl who is undone by madness, and her love of Hamlet…

Isaac Pearce is from the ‘wrong side of the tracks.’ The town bad boy. Girls pine for his attention and guys are in awe of him. That he’s an acting prodigy only adds to his charisma. Isaac utterly disappears into his characters; the stage is the only place he feels safe from his own traumatic home life. He wants nothing more than to escape to Broadway or Hollywood and leave Harmony behind for good.

No one can play Hamlet but Isaac, and when the director pairs him with Willow in acting class, they clash again and again—neither willing to open their hearts to anyone. But clashing leads to breaking, breaking leads to the spilling of terrible secrets, and soon Isaac and Willow find Shakespeare’s words mirroring their lives. When they are cruelly torn apart, neither know how this play will end—with madness and heartache? Or healing, love, and the discovery of who they are truly meant to be.